in its main obiective: to crush the workers' movement.
Since the coup on 11 September last year, the military junta in Chile has maintained its bloody repression in order to advance towards its main objective, the very condition of its saccess: the enslavement of the Chilean working class.
To achieve this, every possible means has heen used to capitalise on the political defeat of |1 September: from massacres to massive redundancies, from the systematic destruction of the organised workers" movement (its parties and trade unions) to the mustary repimentation of the main centres of production.
Il canbot be repcated ofben cnough: this policy so systematic, and so bloodily applied-has hardly a procedent in Tatin America, One must go back to Westemn Europe in the tragic years betwoen the two wotld wars to find anything comparoble. Despite certain differcnoes Inside the Chilean bourgeoisie-and the splits these Imply inside the military regime itself-this banie "political axa" still continues virtually. inchanged.
LOGIC OF SYSTEM The reason for tisis ia simple. It is not te be foand in the bloodthirstiness of this or that member of the junta, but in the lope of the system of which the penetalo are merely servante To revive the DO Tanu aTE m SuunITom mperialiut powers requires the intensuper-exploitation of the Chilcan tens, the abolition of social benefits (mugh ycars of glorious struggle, LN TETAS SRG SKAUMCIL UEA ting chus whose traditions of indepanor, ogpinisation and militancy ane sique in Latin America.
In the days following the coup, everyene well on the way to succvoding in this ni afher a few days the main working dase partics wete disablod and smashed, TEME OE MOU TELOHSE anuICENISEU son, The trade union organisations, og-without their leading militants, and with their structures similarly in ruinscomed handly capable of putting up any nistance to the plans of the junta.
And it was very cicar that a revolution. ary organisation like the MIR (Revolutienary Lefl Movement), whos implantation in the Chilean working class was still Simited, coold not hope to substitute itToday, bowever, fivu months after the coup, one conclusion sticks out a mile: the matrary have falled so achiere their ofjeczive, It is trac that they have reduced a large part of the organised workers' move Duar Comrades, Last November, members of the Chile Solidarity Committee in four Canadian cities (Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg, anc Mancouvar) occupled affices of the minis try of Manpower and Immigration. Their ote was amen acace ne gomm ment policy towards Chile, Canada had rushed to recognise the militery junta and ubsequently had bureaucratically deferred processing of hundrads of applice tions for refuge in Canada.
TORIC ISNE WWEFO ARERSTHC H TIH SIEms is Foronso and Vancouver. Changes ware dropped in Vancouver where the occupations were still quite populer but. in Toronto, The immigracion menisory has obviously decided to make an example or the tour tein arrested, many of whom were militants of the Revolutianary Marxist Group, a sympathising organisation of the Fourth Internetional.
The Chile Solidarity 14 come to trial in March, You cn help by sanding proteste to the Canadian embassy in your country demanding that the charges be dropped. Funds are alse needed to amist with legal expenses and fines. Donations may be sent to the Chile Solidarity 14 Defence Fund, Bax 1183, Station Q, Toronto, Canada. Fratemally.
Walter Davis.
Red Weekly 1 March 1974 Page 6 ment to impotence, Et is true, also, that they have taken away many of the econ omic and social cains won by the thilean warkers, a number of whom are now subJect to what is basically a system of foroed labour.
But they have failed in what will tien out to be the most important thing: the destruction, fragmentation and ensiaseWICAT D TRE WNAMR CWRE OS & MICHT ciass, posessing ifs own traditions of strugsle and organisation, and oarying within it the Astoricel seeds of resolution ary changs.
SIGNS OF SETBACK The signs of this setback are mumbcrous. though of dillering importance and sig nilicance, The first-the least precise, but mast significant because It is so overwhelming can be read in the ligures published by the junta itselt:
Fiom 11 September to 31 December, total industrial production in Chile incneased by 4.01% in relation to the last four months under the Populir Unity povernment, If onc excludes cupper mining. where every effort was concentrated to boost production, this percentage for growth falls to 2.41%. However, the reference period, the last four months of Popular Unity, was a period ol complete agraaon, th compluse desirganisagion of production thanks largely to the sabotaging uctivity of the bourgeoisic and the insbility of Popular Unity to puta stop to it. Aoourding to the bosses' organisatons thomscives, prouacnan teu by mone than 50% during this reference periOne hardly needs to emphasise how niculous thes Takes The new growth figuro of 2.4191 The battle for prodection wajed by the military has been n COIUE 22200.
RESISTANCE Sumie part of the explanation for this must undoubtodly be sought in the con fasions which abound in the oconomic policy of the present regine Hut the basic explanation lies in the "passve resistance adopted by the Chilean working class in the face of the military regine and its 'battle for production", This 'passivo" resistance takes a number oL diverse forms-for instanoe, a lower work-tate, or more faequently, alisenteeism.
The description of "passive" resistance is in some ways unsuitable, insolar as it underestienates how important it is when the work-rates assiened an denoctatey ignosed, or when systematic waves of ERC I OLLUr Isut it is a useful temm in the context of other actions by Chilean workers which are real acts of 'active" resistance, By Lese wo mean the strikes, which started LAOTUOS H ARCIEEE SMETIE LOnSIrIC tion workers on the Santiago underground, to be foliowed later by a strike of one hour in solidarity with the expeiled Swedish amhassador at the Sumar factory, one of the traditional bastions of the workers" MOSHA!
MORE STRIKES Sinoe then, these strike movements have bendod ta increase Al the cod of January, for exacnple, ncarly all the bailding sites in Santingo were drscrled for several tays as tle result of' a strike by tie workers. Becaus: oif the censorslip which aims to prevent any news about such morenients petting out, what does leak out hone and there is particuiarly signilicant.
Thus the IRT factory (owned partly by the US tirm RCA and partly by the Statel, an electronies factory of' interпиасиа pAsuc, was tho scene ni a strike al the ond of January over tho non payment of the kocal wage increzsss factary 'downed-tools', demanding the intmiediate payment of these "bonuses".
ERwaIr lalatd Dy tHACEN was not sufficient to bronk the determination of the IRT warkers, who showed tremen. dous couree: dod at u time when the Bcausstes wele EaEcgcee Hs TO mnprisQn caployers who did not stick to the wage levels lald down by law, the management were obviously not in a good position to put up a fighr. So the workers of IRT sere ablo to take advantage of chis, and make an example of their struggle.
In the lase few days, a now strike has broken out at Sumiar-onc of thie most important Chilean textile plants, which has just been rerurned to its fonner owners In this instance, then has been bloudy rupression: several warkers have been killed and more than thirty arrested.
abso led a strugdo which, while not open and declared, has nonctbeless had rupercuesions which it is impossible to explain away. Let Bl Mercurio, the newspaper of tn bog bouttase waica naskenclr publicised this strupele, take up thu story:
AE Hu carar tatsto out aalam a sicht which had alreaily heen forgotten. Thoy have grown, espocially in the popular SWHESPES OU aLWIS AWUS LEOH aAL LIR centre, like La Grunja, San Miguel, San Bernardo, Puente Alto, La Cisterna, Conchali, Ronca, Barrancas-the most dunily populated working class arcas.
The exp natoo viven by a cumibor of bakery manufacturers and employers has boon the same as on previous uags tho mills huse not turned out cough tlonr, and there lias been un increast in absentocism among the warkers. Tais Gutiena, the socrotary general of the federation of hread workers, has repested that, "many compancros lave cot boon la work Delsuse their wargs an much loc low". The Ministur for Industry and Commonce, General Cabelle, has confirmod that thene is mo rationing of flour for bread-making Ho altribates the loss to ahsentoeism hy the worken"
To be mone procisu, wo should just adu that atardine to tho ofrical teggr0s, this 'absenteeiem" by the bakury workers Jad rached 85 or 90% hy the first week of January!
It is tric, of coucs, thaj poarly all LNS SKU eIns aR na0mSn and limited objectives. Tho delenee of the workers purchasing power -which has boen cut by more than halt sines 1l SentOne of the most energetic campaigns in solidarity with the Chilean resistance has been that in France, where over 400 solidarity committees are functioning. A new impetus to this campaign has been given by the secret arrival in Paris of a new ambassador- Fernando Duran Villareal-representing the most fascistic strands in the regime. His presence did not romain a secret for long, however, as on 15 February militants of the solidarity movement decorated his residence with a Nazi banner (see above/. This was part of the build-up to a mass demonstration involving about 20,000 people in the streets of Paris last Friday.
HWEK-TILLE The bakery werkers in the capitat huse "Once more wu have seen the reappear- Before claraping down.
and his cntleagucs tosE TAFCE Or TOGEP CREs can workors.
I THCTE DIUS 2I50 SaKO Placu Drive.
Sweden. ember has heen the main aim in most of and CHE.
Them. Sometimes this demand has heen coupled with ochors, particularly against The sepime 's allemnls to incrruse the number of hours wurked and speed up the But the demands tboinselves ane not the main thing. W'hat is most important is thar in the present situstion in Chile, any zuch ections mien o dinect confrontetion with The State autiorities af the kigkest level The military are well aware of this. And for the moment they are teying fot tactical reasois to avoid sich conlrontations, so as not lo givu publicity to these actions, They prufer to try to isolate them by crocting a wall of silenoo-cven at the exponse of CS DESUlE SuNu Concesonsano uar ing until the movement cames to an end Hence our first, basic conchiaion tron ENSE URLT DEnSne LE WOTE ing class-whethet "passipe or 'sctive -ls clearly to say that not only has the working class novement not heen smashed as the junta had hoped in the cuphoria af it: victory; bur on die contray, fire months HETeT Ie coup, us working Class 15 u major factor in the political, ecanamic and SOcal MEuZOOn In tho ie dE Faocaet The Chilean military ane thus learning to their cost to distingwish berween the traditiona orennisntions cif the workers WOYLILIT- BICIT TEP ESMHXS tasily-and the working class itself, with a high lovel of political consciousness bom nut of'a long tradition of strugele and considcrably radicalised by the events of the Thix situation inside the wotking class is the key factor in the present situation in Chile. And it is on the basis of this that the revolutionary inilitunts-and most impartandy, the Mikk-pose the problem of orgattising the rosistance to the dictator ship, which in its outwand appoaraner HL Jur H HE nso Bnr ol such spontancous resistance by the Chil It is on this husis, too, that the debates on the resistance Inside the sobidarity noveSOCIALIST WOMAN: New Spring insue out now. Articles include General Strike SPUC, Equal Pay, etc, Orders to: 21 Highwiew Court, College Road, Harrow Weald, Middlesex, Price 10p plus 3p p&p, 10% off on orders for more than 10 coples, sent post free, "NATIONALISATION OR EXPROPRIATION?: pamphlet translated from original by ex-Ligue Conmuniste, French section of the Fourth International. Copies Will available from: Alex Stein, cio 72 Cambridge Road, Kings Heath, Birming ham, All profits to Red Weekly Fund BENGALI FRIENDS in Europe and cise where, for Bengali books and Leral |Fourth International peperl, contact: Bengali, Mullwaderı, Box 3274, 10365 Stockholm, LONDON RED FORUM: Every Tuesday a1 8 pm in the General Picton pub, Caledanian Road, N1. (5 mins Kings X tubel. This week 15 March): The struagle in Ireland NOTTINGHAM RED CIRCLES Wide ranging series of discussions based on the politics of the Fourth International, Every 2nd and 4th Tursday in the month et 8 pm in the Lion Hotel, Glumber Stroet. FREE IRELAND FORUMS: Fridays at 8 pm in the General Picton pub, Caledon. lan Road (Kings X rubel. 1 March: Irish Solidarity Work in West Germany* speaker from Irlands Solidaritatskomittee, Germany, 8 March: 'Ireland after the elections--what nowi -Gery Lawiess. "SALT OF THE EARTH': Showings in the North-East of this film about the struggle of miners' wives during a strike in the US Monday 4 March: Northumberland College of Education, 7,30 pm. Tuesday 6 March: Newcastle University, 7.30 pm. Wednesday 6 March: Northemn Counties College of Education, 2 pin; People's Place, South Shieids, 7,30 pm. Thurslay 7 March: Boldon Colliery Miners' Hall, 7,30 pm Friday 8 March: Durham University, evening. Each showing will be followed by discussion with members of Tyneside Socialist Women's Action Group and MINERS' BENEFIT: Saturday 2 March at 8 pen. Diaco plus graups-Chili Will and the Red Hot Peppers, Hoarded Lady. 60p at University of Londoe Union, Malet Street, WC1, Organised by London Student Organisation-Miners Support Committee, MINERS-SHREWSBURY BENEFIT: Monday 11 March at 7.30 pm, Henry Cow plus Alex Glasgow and the Combine. Sûp at Theatre Royal, Stratford, E15. Organised by London Student Organisa tion-Miners Support Committee "WOMEN & THE TORY OFFENSIVE': 25-page pamphler analysing the Tory offensive against woren workers and women in the home, and taking up the immediate strugge, Price 15p inc. poscage - 10D Tor orders at six or mant-front! IMG Wamen's Commission, 97 Caledanian Roed, London N1. 'UKRAINE: UNREST & REPRESSION' -pampniet procuceo ny toe Committee to Defend Ukrainian Prisoners, price 15p plus p&p from: 83 Gregory Crescent, Eltham, London SE9.
HENRY IV-Parts I and It: Potiticisod version as benefit for Shrowabury building warkers. Monday 4 March at 7.00 pm in the Hall Moon theatre, 27 Alie Street. Street, London E1, Itel.480 6485l Tickets 50p. Orgsnised in conjunction with the East London Shrewsbury Defence Committoe, QUILAPAYUN! Leading Chilean song group in concert, Sunday 3 Merch, et 8 pm in Assembly Rooms, Canden Town Hall, Euston Road, NW1 Tickets E1 and 50p as the door, Organised by Chile / Solidarity Campaign.
Chile Solidarity Campaign NATIONAL ACTION CONFERENCE Saturday 23 March, 11.00 am Digbeth Hall, Birmingham Delegates' credentials from: Chile Solidarity Campaign, Co-operative Centre, 129 Seven Sisters Road, London N7 7QG
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Jean-Pierre Beauvais, recently returned from his second visit to Chile since the coup, shows how the junta has decisively failed
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